Copter rescues hiker overwhelmed by heat

EAST COUNTY: A 40-year-old man was rescued yesterday by a sheriff's helicopter crew after he had collapsed from heat exhaustion hiking on a trail to Cedar Creek Falls, southeast of San Diego Country Estates near Ramona.

Emergency officials were called at 4:30 p.m. and an ASTREA helicopter with a hoist responded about 5 p.m. near the Eagle Peak parking area. The hiker initially was flown to a Cal Fire station in Ramona, then taken by ambulance to a hospital, sheriff's officials said. –M.A.

Body of man is found near trolley tracks

LINDA VISTA: Authorities are looking for witnesses in the death of a man who may have been struck by a trolley near the Morena Station last night.

A trolley crew spotted the body of a man, who appeared to have be decapitated, about 8:40 p.m. near the tracks, San Diego police Lt. Dan Christman said. A trolley headed westbound from the Morena Station near Friars Road to the Old Town Station may have hit the man about 8:30 p.m., Christman said.

The victim, whose identity was not immediately known, appeared to be homeless by the way he was dressed, Christman said. The man may have jumped between cars and fell underneath because a bar at the front of the trolley that detects when something has been hit and stops it had not been tripped, authorities said.

Trolley service on the line was suspended after the body was discovered.

Anyone with information in connection with the accident is asked to call (619) 531-2000. –M.A.

Caller directs deputies to location of suspect

SOLANA BEACH: A 26-year-old man was booked on suspicion of several burglaries early yesterday after witnesses called deputies about a vehicle break-in and someone reported the suspect's location.

The break-in was reported on West Solana Circle in Solana Beach. The suspect assaulted the vehicle's owner when the owner confronted him, sheriff's Sgt. Thomas Yancey said.

A witness called deputies shortly after 7 a.m. and gave the burglar's location near Plaza Street and Sierra Avenue. Minutes later, deputies arrested a man who matched a description of the burglar. Deputies also searched the man's backpack and found it contained property taken in the burglary on Solana Circle as well as credit cards, checkbooks and other items believed to have been taken in recent burglaries.

The man was booked into Vista Jail on suspicion of several burglaries, assault and possession of stolen property, Yancey said. His bail was set at $164,000. His arraignment was set for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow in Vista Superior Court. –M.A.

Man found dead after standoff at apartment

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO: Police responding to calls about a woman screaming for help could not coax her boyfriend out of a Centre City apartment, and after several hours discovered the man had shot and killed himself.

When officers arrived, they learned that the woman and her boyfriend had been fighting inside a third-floor apartment and that he was still inside. Officers were unable to contact the man, Gregory Michael Fobian, 23, for several hours, Ruff said. Officers eventually entered the apartment, where they found Fobian dead.

Electrical problems may be cause of blaze

BONSALL: A family was displaced by a house fire yesterday afternoon that caused about $75,000 damage, officials said.

The fire was reported at 1:24 p.m. on Kari Lane near Holly Lane, said a spokeswoman for the North Comm fire dispatching service. The first crews responded at 1:30 p.m. About a dozen firefighters with two engines and a truck brought the blaze under control at 1:45 p.m. It was extinguished at 2:50 p.m.

The fire caused about $50,000 damage to the two-story house and about $25,000 damage to its contents, said Capt. Jon Blumeyer of the Vista Fire Department. No one was injured.

The cause of the fire was still being investigated, but it appeared to have been ignited by electrical problems, Blumeyer said. –M.A.